Availability: Available to Backorder, No Due Date for Supply, Not for Xmas

God's Peoples by Donald Harman Akenson

Book Description

Chosen as one of Library Journal's Best Books of 1992 "Superb scholarship and compelling writing."--Library Journal "Splendidly illuminating and enthrallingly readable."--Conor Cruise O'Brien Asserting that the dominant peoples of South Africa, Northern Ireland, and Israel have based their cultural identity on a belief in a covenant with an all-powerful God, Akenson vividly characterizes the effects of this conviction on each nation's history.

This volume focuses on the creation, structure and evolution of the Irish national system of education. It illustrates how the system was shaped by the religious, social and political realities of 19th century Ireland and discusses the effects that the system had upon the Irish nation.

Donald Akenson's book traces the series of religious and political controversies which have battered the state schools of Northern Ireland. The way in which the author describes how children are schooled reveals a great deal about the attitudes and values of the parental generation and helps to explain the actions of later generations.

Donald Akenson's book was at the forefront of a radically new approach to the study of Irish educational history. Instead of investigating the evolution of the schools as an isolated process, he explores the complex interrelations of Irish education, institutions and society.

Reviews

US Kirkus Review » Bold, often brilliant, but perhaps strained attempt by Akenson (History/Queen's Univ.) to trace how ancient Hebrew scriptures have "formed the fundamental pattern of mind of the three societies" of South Africa, Israel, and Northern Ireland. Akenson begins by analyzing the Old Testament: "The Bible is sulphurous in spots, not nice," he says, with Yahweh, a "jealous God," purging 120,000 men of the House of Judah on one occasion, making a bargain with Jephthah to kill his own daughter on another. Akenson believes that the Old Testament laid great emphasis on social law, vengeance, a warlike deity, the value of particular lands, the significance of the Exodus, and group purity - each of which he finds reflected in the three societies he examines. The most obvious case is South Africa, where the belief in a chosen people, in the significance of an exodus into an untamed country, and in biological and cultural purity is particularly clear. Akenson's most strained analogy is that of Ulster, where he sees rigid thinking, sharp dichotomies, a prophetic mode of utterance, and territorial segregation at work. And his most controversial analysis is likely to be of Israel: "The Israelis systematically deprived the Palestinian Arabs of their lands, segregated their places of residence, and developed a dual economy and severe restrictions on the civil liberties and civil rights of the indigenous population." Eight-six percent of Palestinian villages, he says, have disappeared within the past 20 years; military government has been used for "security" reasons to deny civil fights; and there are strict "pass" and travel restrictions. It's debatable whether Akenson's concept of resurgent Old Testament behavior is more theory than reality - his idea that Israel will move ever closer to the covenanting pattern seems confounded by the recent elections - but the author's sweep and grasp are impressive. (Kirkus Reviews)

For every $20 you spend on books, you will receive $1 in Boomerang Bucks loyalty dollars. You can use your Boomerang Bucks as a credit towards a future purchase from Boomerang Books. Note that you must be a Member (free to sign up) and that conditions do apply.